Nattie Freeda Kinloch completes dissertation in the School of Educational Leadership and Change

Community College Attrition: The Continual Rise in Community College Attrition -- Nattie Freeda Kinloch

Abstract:
Community college attrition continues to rise. The lowest rate during the period of 1983-2008 for public two year community college retention was 51.3%, and the lowest retention rate for private two year colleges was 55.5% ( Act, 2008, pp. 4). The purpose of this study is to examine the perspective of student retention by faculty members through faculty and student interactions. The study was conducted at Nattie Community College. Two methods of data collection were used; surveys’ and autoethnography. The triangulation of methods generated a holistic view of the problem. The study examined how faculty engages in student retention through a target population survey. My personal involvement in a four years colleges and a PHD program was included in the study and variables were presented through autoethnography methodology. The dissertation answered the question “What does faculty perceives that they and the college can do to increase student retention?” The study centered on the need to improve faculty’s involvement in student retention. The combination of survey and autoethongraphic information provided sufficient evidence that student attrition has not been implemented into the character of the college. Faculty at the college overwhelmingly agrees that the college has a very low culture value rating concerning faculty and student interactions.

Fielding graduate and faculty member H. Sharif Williams co-authors book

Sexuality, Religion and the Sacred
Bisexual, Pansexual and Polysexual Perspectives
Edited by Loraine Hutchins, H. Sharif Williams

Sexuality, Religion and the Sacred is a thoughtful collection of bisexual, polysexual and pansexual scholarship on religion and spirituality. It examines how religious and spiritual traditions address sexuality, whilst also exploring the ways in which bisexually-, polysexually-, and pansexually-active people embrace religious and spiritual practice. The volume offers a comprehensive analysis of these prevalent themes by focusing on five main areas of discussion: Christian and Unitarian Discourses; Indigenous and Decolonizing Spiritual Discourses; Feminist Spiritual Discourses; Buddhist Discourses; and Neo/Pagan Discourses.

Sexuality, Religion and the Sacred offers an accessible yet scholarly treatment of these topics through a collection of critical essays by academics of theology, humanities, cultural studies and social sciences, as well as sexology professionals and clergy from various faith and spiritual traditions. It gives readers an insight into the intersection of sexualities and spiritualities, and attempts to disrupt this very dichotomy through its careful consideration of a wide variety of discourses.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Bisexuality.Foreword Introduction: Our Hearts Hold These Intimate Connections Part I: Christian and Unitarian Discourses 1. Not Even on the Page: Freeing God from Heterocentrism 2. Re-enforcing Binaries, Downgrading Passions: Bisexual Invisibility in Mainstream Queer Christian Theology 3. Bi Christian Unitarian: A Theology of Transgression 4. Developing a Bisexual Adult Religious Education Curriculum Part II: Indigenous and Decolonizing Spiritual Discourses 5. Living with Dual Spirits: Spirituality, Sexuality, and Healing in African Diaspora 6. Bodeme in Harlem: An African Diasporic Autoethnography 7. Colonial Legacies, Decolonized Spirits: Balboa, Ugandan Martyrs, and AIDS Solidarity Today 8. Make It Funky Now: The Birth of Funk Studies – A Review of Conjuring Black Funk: Notes on Culture, Sexuality, and Spirituality, Volume 1 by Herukhuti Part III: Feminist Spiritual Discourses 9. Reading Althaus-Reid: As a Bi FeministTheo/Methodological Resource 10. Bisexual Women as Emblematic Sexual Healers and the Problematics of the Embodied Sexual Whore 11. Bi bell: Spirituality and the Sexual Intellectual 12. Non-Monogamous Bisexuality as a Practice of Spiritual Freedom in The Color Purple Part IV: Buddhist Discourses 13. The Third Precept: Towards a Buddhist Ethics of Bisexuality 14. Bi, Buddhist, Activist: Refusing Intolerance, But Not Refusing Each Other Part V: Neo/Pagan Discourses 15. The Sacredness of Pleasure 16. "All Cool Women Should Be Bisexual:" Female Bisexual Identity in an American NeoPagan Community 17. Review of Gaia and the New Politics of Love: Notes for a Poly Planet by Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio

Barbara Ackermann completes dissertation in the School of Educational Leadership and Change

Barbara Ackermann was born and grew up in Bern, Switzerland. For the first 13 years of her career, she was a successful print media journalist. During a sabbatical in 1985, she came to California for the first time. She met several Licensed Clinical Social Workers, and wanted to join them on their career path. She gave up life as she had known it, and moved to Los Angeles in 1986. Like so many immigrants from all over the world, she had to start anew and earned her Green Card as a live-in housekeeper. With the skills she subsequently acquired as a student in Alcohol and Drug Counseling Skills/Counseling at UCLA Extension, she put herself through college. She obtained an AA degree in Spanish from Los Angeles Valley College (1994); a BA degree in Sociology (with a minor in Anthropology) from California State University Northridge (1996); and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Southern California (1998). She specialized in working with adults with severe and persistent mental illnesses.

While working with this particular population, she often wished that she could get into a time machine with her clients, and go back to their youth with them to rectify what went wrong. In 2002, she was given the opportunity to work as a school-based therapist with middle school students. She found her time machine, and she never looked back.

In 2003 she became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), and also earned her Pupil Personnel Services Credential at California State University, Long Beach. In 2004, she became the sole School Social Worker at Granada Hills Charter High School, the largest Charter School in the Nation. Although she enjoys all facets of her work, students with emotional and behavioral impairments (known as “emotionally disturbed” in the US K-12 vernacular) are her favorite clients. Her experience with one student – a Korean-American young man who is known as Taek in her dissertation – ignited her desire to study the journeys of teenagers who had to leave their comprehensive high schools because of severe emotional and behavioral impairments.

Abstract:
Young people with emotional and behavioral impairments—known as “emotionally disturbed” (“ED”) in the United States public K-12 educational system—are generally not allowed a voice on their own behalf. Instead, they become “the focus of ‘assessment,’ ‘management,’ and ‘intervention’” (White, 2000, p. 16). Because they are young, and because they have problems, their experiences, knowledge, and opinions are discounted by the adult “experts” in education and mental health. This narrative inquiry turns this power relationship on its head. It gives voice to five former high school students with emotional and behavioral impairments. They reflected upon their time in comprehensive high school. They retraced the sequence of events that culminated in their transfer to non-public school. They explored whether and how the alternative school placement supported their academic success and personal development. And finally—standing firmly in a place of personal knowledge and expertise—they explained to educators and mental health professionals how they might help other young people more effectively.

Key words: Emotional disturbance; emotional and behavioral disorders; K-12 education; special education; non-public schools; alternative educational placements; student perspectives; narrative inquiry

Fielding graduate Jonathan Brennan publishes Choosing a Good Road textbook

The purpose of the Choosing a Good Road textbook is to give students the tools they need to succeed in high school and be ready for college and career.

Graduation rates from high schools in the United States are frustratingly low and schools have major challenges in promoting student effectiveness.

- Fewer than 70% of students graduate from high school
- 48% or fewer graduate in the 50 largest school districts
- The achievement gap for at-risk students: graduation rates well below 50%

Students who do graduate are often not well prepared for college and the workplace. The challenges are enormous and require a fresh approach.

The Choosing a Good Road textbook offers middle & high school students:

- 36 Learning Skills to Improve Learning Outcomes
- 9 Effectiveness Skills to Increase Student Performance
- Brain-Based Strategies to Promote Active Learning
- Life Purpose & Mission Statement Activities
- A Framework for Setting Life & Learning Goals
- An Opportunity to Clarify & Apply Personal Values
- Methods to Shift Negative Beliefs to More Productive Mindsets
- More Effective Peer Pressure & Positive Assertiveness Skills
- Systems to Enhance Organization & Efficiency
- Creative & Critical Thinking Approaches for Better Problem Solving
- Diversity Awareness & Management Strategies
- Leadership & Communication Tools
- Mindfulness Practices & Improved Focus Skills

Educators who are tired of classroom management problems and poor student performance, and would like students to become better learners and critical thinkers, might consider using the proven strategies in learner effectiveness found in Choosing a Good Road. The textbook and tools from the workshop can be used in life skills, leadership and core content classes, or in special programs. A more detailed explanation of the challenges and the solutions can be found at www.agoodroad.com.

Jonathan Brennan, PhD, EdD
agoodroad@sbcglobal.net
www.agoodroad.com

Fielding student Tim Scudder co-authors book

Scudder, T., Patterson, M., & Mitchell, K. (2012). Have a Nice Conflict. Jossey Bass: San Francisco, CA.

HOD student Tim Scudder, along with Co-authors, Michael Patterson, EdD and Kent Mitchell, have written a novel about building relationships and managing conflict at work and at home.  Have a Nice Conflict follows the precarious quest of John Doyle as he fights to save his relationships and rescue his sinking career. Employing the research of pioneering psychologist, clinical therapist, and educator Dr. Elias H. Porter (1914 - 1987), the authors reveal a relational approach to interpersonal conflict that consistently leads to better results, stronger relationships, and a reinforced sense of self-worth for all involved.

In this book, you'll find:
- Specific techniques and a practical approach to preventing and managing conflicts.
- A relational approach to conflict that gets tangible results while enhancing your relationships.
- Ways to identify conflict triggers in ourselves and others.
- The Five Keys to Having a Nice Conflict]
- An engaging story you won't be able to put down


Here's what the critics and reviewers have said:

"With a powerful message that's certain to improve your relationships at work and at home, Have a Nice Conflict is not only a wonderfully fun read, it's also a solidly credible one. Read, learn, and enjoy." -Jim Kouzes, coauthor, The Leadership Challenge and Executive Fellow of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University

"I absolutely cannot say enough nice things about this book! Have a Nice Conflict is a wonderfully informative book about an all-important topic: how to resolve conflict in the most balanced way and in a way that won't turn us into victims." -BlogCritics.org

"Have a Nice Conflict does a superb job of distilling key personnel concepts into a succinct format that will be of great benefit to managers and employees alike. This narrative volume presents the enduring management principles of psychologist Elias Porter in an eminently sensible and approachable way. The authors use a case example to illuminate fundamental concepts in a manner that is both compelling and readable. A definite addition to the personnel management bookshelf." -Morgan T. Sammons, PhD, ABPP, Dean, California School of Professional Psychology

"With Have a Nice Conflict, the authors have captured the music and drama--and sometimes humor of real-time conflict as well as a road map for how to manage and avoid the conflicts we find ourselves in everyday." -Hile Rutledge, Chief Executive Officer and Owner of OKA (Otto Kroeger Associates) and author of Type Talk At Work, The MBTI Introduction Workbook and Reversing Forward

"A must read for anyone who wants to master the crucial skill of preventing and navigating conflict." -Joseph Grenny, New York Times bestselling co-author of Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High

"A great introduction to knowing yourself and collaborating effectively with others. It's also a good read; you won't be able to put it down." -Michael Maccoby, PhD, author of The Leaders We Need, and What Makes Us Follow

Fielding graduate M. Helena V. Collins publishes dissertation

Help-seeking behavior among Mexican immigrant and Mexican American female victims of intimate partner violence and the relationship of acculturation to the incidence of domestic violence in Memphis, Tennessee -- Collins, Maria Helena Vanderlei, Ed.D.

Abstract:
Domestic violence against women is an oppressive condition extended across race, class, and gender in the United States (Sokoloff, & Pratt 2005; U.S. Department of Justice, 2004). Athena's (2000) discussion the English Common Law of 1967 in the context of wife abuse was supported by Stedman's (1917) statement that, "by the old common law rule the husband had the right to inflict moderate personal chastisement on his wife, provided that he used, as some of his domestic authorities stated it, a switch no longer than his thumb" (p. 1). This study examined the help-seeking behavior of women of Hispanic origin who have been in situations of domestic violence. In particular, it is focused on the perceptions of Mexican immigrant and Mexican American women regarding the social services available to them (Tiefenthaler, Farmer, & Sambira, 2005). It also explored how this help-seeking behavior is affected by their degree of acculturation and the incidence of intimate partner violence. I wanted to understand whether a difference existed between these two similar ethnic groups. I reviewed their differences in perception about their situation, as well as their awareness of the quality of social services available to them. The participants in this study were 10 Mexican immigrant and 7 Mexican American women who were living in Memphis, Tennessee when the research was conducted. In order to investigate the phenomena, mixed methods were used. The quantitative instruments selected were ARSMA-II (Cu?llar & Maldonado,1995), the Inventory of Abusive Behavior (Shepard & Campbell, 1992), and a customized demographic questionnaire. The qualitative data were collected through a semi-structured interview. Descriptive data and t-tests were reported for the quantitative data, and constant comparative analysis (Glaser, 1965) supported the interpretation of the qualitative data. I report the challenges that women of Hispanic origin had while seeking help from social service providers and the relationship between acculturation and incidence of intimate partner violence. Recommendations to improve the quality of services that this population receives, as well as suggestions for future research, are provided.

Key words. intimate partner violence, Mexican American women, Mexican immigrant women, social service providers, degree of acculturation, Tennessee .

Keri Ohlrich completes dissertation in the School of Human and Organizational Development

Analyzing Corporate Social Responsibility’s Impact on Employee Attraction and Retention with a Focus on Generation Y -- Keri Ohlrich

Abstract:
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a paradigm shift in Corporate America. This is an evolution from the Milton Friedman classic ideology that corporations exist to maximize profits for shareholders to corporations as global problem solvers. Developing a CSR strategy can help companies remain competitive, grow market share, and enhance customer loyalty. As CSR has recently become part of corporate strategy, many corporations are confronted with an employee talent shortfall. This shortfall is attributed to factors from the simple fact that there are not enough people, like Generation X not being able to replace the retiring Baby Boomers to the more complex concept of a talent mismatch. CSR and talent intersect potentially as CSR could impact employee attraction and retention.

This research investigates this intersection of CSR and talent and examines the impact of CSR on employee attraction and retention, with a special focus on Generation Y. Interviews included 36 qualitative, semi-structured interviews of corporate employees and Generation Y participants. Questions were designed to uncover motivations and desires on why people leave and stay at companies. Interviews were administered telephonically with participants from two companies with CSR programs, a company without a CSR program, and Generation Y volunteers. Results suggest that potential employees are not as much attracted by the CSR program, but by the values of the company. In terms of retention, results suggest that employees do not necessarily stay at companies because of the CSR program. However, they may leave if there is a gross violation of the CSR program and associated values. From the findings, a practitioners’ guide was created. This guide outlines the drivers of attraction and retention that focus on iValue, iDevelop, and iRetain.

Fielding graduate Kathie Court publishes article in the International Journal of Business and Social Science

Mapping the economic contribution of women entrepreneurs -- Kathie Court

The purpose of this research was to discover and describe using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) the economic contribution of one group of women entrepreneurs to their communities. The research participants were low resource and recently laid-off women who had graduated from a Microenterprise Assistance Program (MEP). MEPs are non-profit organizations that provide training, support, and microloans to low-income people, ethnic and racial minorities, and women.

Court, K. (2012). Mapping the economic contribution of women entrepreneurs. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(1).

Angela Stephan completes dissertation in the School of Human and Organizational Development

Understanding How Nurses Experience Their Responsibility for Administering Medications According to the 5 Rights -- Angela P. Stephan

Angela is the Human Capital Lead for the Veterans Affairs Account for Deloitte Consulting, LLP. She has spent the last 30+ years as a practitioner in corporate organizations, CIGNA and PECO/Exelon, a behavioral science consulting firm, her own management consulting firm, Booz Allen Hamilton, and now Deloitte. For the past 17 years she has focused primarily on healthcare, specifically hospitals addressing organizational and individual performance and behavior change.

Abstract:
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report in 2000 entitled: To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System (2000). Since that time, medication safety has improved, but progress has reportedly been slow (IOM, 2007). Serious concerns persist regarding the frequency of medication errors that occur when a medication is delivered to a patient and, as a result patients experience adverse drug events (ADEs) that are considered preventable (IOM). The July 2006 IOM report indicated there are more than 1.5 million preventable adverse drug events (ADEs) annually at United States facilities with total costs estimated at $17 to $29 billion per year (Sherwood, Thomas, Bennett, & Lewis, 2002).

Nurses have been given many responsibilities which continue to increase as new safety, technology, medical and process advances are made. It is important to understand from a nurse's perspective what it feels like to have the volume, variety, and criticality of all of these responsibilities at the same time that the environment contains a number of stressors-interruptions, fatigue, overwork, miscommunications, illegible drug orders, insufficient patient information, and malfunctioning infusion pumps and intravenous drug delivery systems ( Pape, 2001). In addition, nurses are asked to perform many non-direct care duties such as housekeeping, leading to their frustration with the role (Schimpff, 2009).

Felt responsibility focuses on the individuals' psychological linkage to the goals (or rules, protocols) of an event for which the individual's actions are then evaluated (Schlenker, 1997). Although nurses can be held accountable for these many responsibilities, it is suggested that their felt responsibility shapes their actions and behaviors (Cummings & Anton, 1990; Dose & Klimoski, 1995). The study's research question is as follows: How do nurses experience their responsibility for administering medications according to the 5 Rights standard? By answering this question, hospital managers and nursing executives will have new knowledge from a study of felt responsibility that has the potential to improve nurses' satisfaction with their role in administering medications safely, and could motivate them to want to continue their nursing careers.

Key words: Registered Nurses, Health, 5 Rights, Medication Administration, Patient Safety, Responsibility, Felt Responsibility, Accountability, Hospital Managers, Control

Fielding graduate Mary Jean Vignone publishes article in OD Practitioner

Family, Buildings, and Wars: Organizational Conceptual Metaphors -- Mary Jean Vignone

My intention in this article is to clear a path from theory to practice through exploration of practical applications of conceptual metaphor analysis. I believe that conceptual metaphors are powerful tools for OD professionals. Specifically, conceptual metaphor theory and analysis have positive impacts in the areas of leaders communication, understanding organizational culture, and facilitating organizational change. In this article, I explore the practical side of conceptual metaphor analysis to propose new applications for OD professionals.

Vignone, M. J. (2012). Family. buildings, and wars: Organizational conceptual metaphors. OD Practitioner, 44(1), 34-37.

Diane S. Burt completes dissertation in the School of Educational Leadership and Change

Exploring Employee Involvement in Change: Appreciative Conversations with Community College Leaders -- Diane S. Burt

Abstract:
The objective of this study was to examine critically the leadership stories of six community college Principals as they collaboratively navigated through a time of transformational change. The study contributes to, and is based on, two areas of literature: appreciative inquiry and employee involvement in change. While this time of change was unique to this college and its leaders, their stories are likely to speak broadly to leaders experiencing different kinds of change. Through an appreciative inquiry approach, the study engaged the Principals in narrative inquiry to promote conversation and storytelling as a way to share and better understand what they did well to involve people in the change process. The approach focused on what was working well and what the potential was for the future.

The findings and implications of the study were grouped into two areas: the process and the results. The appreciative inquiry process is a methodology that could be used in transformational change, not only for engaging employees, but also for building the change leadership team. The affirmative and appreciative approach helped to bring out the best in the team and promote positive communications. The results were grouped by themes. The main themes identified in the study included: building relationships, communicating face-to-face, empowering leaders, creating collaborative and data-driven decision-making processes, being positive and passionate, understanding the organizational culture, embracing opportunities for learning, and ensuring balance.

Key words: appreciative inquiry, narrative inquiry, organizational change, employee involvement, leadership, community college

Evelyn Allene Puaa completes dissertation in the School of Educational Leadership and Change

A study of the strategies used by college faculty members of mathematics departments and secondary teacher education programs for increasing enrollment in secondary mathematics teacher certification programs -- Evelyn Allene Puaa

Abstract:
A critical shortage of secondary mathematics teachers exists in the United States. Retirements of the aging teacher population will cause it to further decrease. This study addressed what college faculty members and administrators of mathematics departments and mathematics education programs were doing to recruit more students who would pursue a degree in mathematics and/or a secondary teaching certificate in mathematics. It was a discovery study that included written questionnaires followed by telephone interviews. Both quantitative data and qualitative data were gathered at each stage. The quantitative data and qualitative data both suggest that recruitment activities were not part of a systemic recruitment plan, but were the effort of individual faculty members. In addition, statistics were not kept regarding the effectiveness of the activities. The activities varied between colleges and, although not many activities were conducted at a single college, a wide variety of activities was conducted by the aggregate. Conducting recruitment activities is not considered scholarly work, yet took up the time that professors needed to conduct required scholarly work. The data also suggest that mathematics departments do not systematically advertise the critical shortage of secondary mathematics teachers and its negative impact on the quality of mathematics education students receive, even though studies have shown that the majority of students who enter teacher preparation programs do so because they want to help others. Included are suggestions for college faculty members and administrators who want to help alleviate the critical shortage by recruiting more mathematics students who might pursue a secondary teaching certificate. Also included are suggestions for further research in this area.

Keywords: teacher shortage; mathematics teacher shortage; secondary mathematics teachers; mathematics teacher certification; college student recruitment; qualified STEM teachers; licensed secondary mathematics teachers; enrollment increase; STEM student recruitment

Fielding graduate Lori Schneider publishes chapter in Schutzian Research: A Yearbook of Worldly Phenomenology and Qualitative Social Science

Schneider, L. K. (2011). The Experience of Phenomenological Place: The Architecture of Local Workers in Global Work Places, in Schutzian Research Volume 3 / 2011. Special issue: Phenomenology of the Human Sciences, pp. 67-77. Edited by Richard L. Lanigan (Bucharest: Zeta Books, 2011.)

Local Workers, Global Work Place, and the Experience of Place -- Lori K. Schneider

Abstract:
This hermeneutic phenomenological study of how remote workers in global corporations experience and interpret local place is based on Heidegger’s thinking about space, place, and dwelling, Giddens’ conception of globalization as “time-space distanciation,” and recent research and theory related to remote work and architecture. Study participants are knowledge workers in the United States and Europe who work full time from home as employees of large global corporations. The analysis reveals several insights about remote workers’ lived experience of place, including the importance of managing the threshold between work and home and the need to create spaces for interaction at work. Some remote workers learn to shape, choose, or create places that better suit them, while others prefer to remain in place. Some become more involved in their local communities, helping these communities become more globally-connected while retaining their unique local qualities. The analysis reveals five themes that suggest that place is both spatial and temporal. A place is a specific location within physical space that acquires personal meaning, arising from a person’s past history and evolving with ongoing or repeated experience. Individuals make meaning of place as Center (groundedness or rootedness), Setting (activity, convenience or purpose), and Source (generativity, inspiration or transcendence). We shape and respond to places; places shape us as our lives take place within them.

Pamela Hopkins completes dissertation in the School of Human and Organizational Development

Women's Experiences of Micro Aggressive Acts: Meaning Making and Coping Strategies -- Pamela Hopkins

Abstract:
The existing literature on micro aggressions indicates that very little research has been conducted on specific experiences of women. Similar to racial prejudice and discrimination, blatant gender prejudice and discrimination have subsided. Nonetheless, the subtle, small, daily events that occur so frequently have become embedded in the fabric of women’s lives. Women are subjected regularly to micro aggressive acts across not only gender but also others such as class, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, and so on. The emotional toll of these micro aggressions can be significant and women often minimize and deny their existence. These indignities can be intentional or unintentional and often perpetrators are unaware that their actions insult and otherwise harm women.

This study explored how women of different ages, races, and sexual orientations, describe their experiences with micro aggressions and how they make sense of them in their lives.

Key Words: micro aggressions, subtle discrimination, coping responses, gender discrimination, sexism, subtle sexism, intersectionality, sense-making.

Danette Y. Conklin completes dissertation in the School of Psychology

An Exploratory Study of Variables Related to Behavior Problems and Parent/Peer Relationship Problems for Adolescents Referred to an Outpatient Clinic -- Danette Y. Conklin

Danette Y. Conklin is a Postdoctoral Psychology Fellow in Chronic Pain Medicine (Psychology) Program, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Ohio.  Her professional website: http://my.clevelandclinic.org/neurological_institute/education/psychiatry_psychology_fellowship.aspx

Abstract:
This study investigated to what extent unstable environments and biological parent characteristics contributed to internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, to the severity of those problems overall, and to relationship problems with parents and peers, for adolescents referred for outpatient mental health treatment. The participants were 11- to 17-year-old, male and female adolescents from both non-minority and minority groups. This cross-sectional survey used archival data that included self-reports and interview data. Contained in the archives and used in the regression analyses were family structure, reported mental illness, and reported substance problems of the biological parents. Age, race/ethnicity, and gender of the adolescents were used as control variables. Though this was not a study of attachment behaviors, Bowlby’s (1960) attachment theory served as a strong theoretical grounding based on his insights regarding how unstable environments may relate to the development of children and adolescents.

The outcome of the study revealed that parent substance problems were significant contributors to behavior problems for teens referred for outpatient mental health treatment. Biological mothers’ substance problems related most strongly to conduct problems and somatic distress. Substance problems of the biological fathers contributed more to symptoms of depression and anxiety. The coefficients of father substance problems and adolescent age were found related to parent and peer relationship problems, but the coefficients did not support the overall regression model. There were several other analyses included in this study, such as the correlation between race/ethnicity and the outcome variables. In addition, the psychometric properties of the total scale and all of the subscales on Youth Outcome Questionnaire – 30.1 were analyzed and compared to past research. A subscale was developed for this study as an exploratory measure from the Youth Outcome Questionnaire – 30.1, called the Parent/ Peer Relationship Problems subscale and analyzed to examine its internal consistency.

The quantitative findings of this study could be used for treatment planning, particularly for families where biological mothers and/or fathers have a history of substance problems. The qualitative data supported the quantitative findings that adolescents exhibited more problems with parent and peer relationships when the biological father reportedly had substance problems.